Chapter One:Trade Secrets

Art, like sex, is too important to leave to the professionalsI-too

important because of the delight and satisfaction it provides, and

too important because of its role in creating each person's future.

This book is dedicated to restoring our artistic birthright: an end-

less intercourse with attractive things.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, art has not always been a

noun, a valuable object relegated to a museum or a ticketed event in

a performance hall. At the birth of the word "art;' it was a verb that

meant "to put things together:' It was not a product but a process.

If we can reclaim that view of art-as a way of looking at and doing

things, as a series of experiences and experiments-all of us gain afresh grasp on the proven, practical ways to construct the quality ofour lives.

Yes, the verb "art" often produces nouns. When artists apply

themselves to certain media, they create those magnificent things

we hang on well-lit walls or pay forty bucks to hear at Carnegie Hall.But the prevailing view of art is built upon a simplistic equation: art

t Art Is a Verb

equals those "things." While not overtly wrong, this formula for artis stingy. It sadly overlooks the down-to-earth actions that result in

art objects, the perceiving that brings such objects to life in us, andthe impact of artworks on the way we think, understand, learn, andmake changes in our lives. We get caught up in the games of thatmaterialistic view, with buying, selling, judging, and discussing art

(if we bother with it at all), and we leave art to a few supposed

"experts," abandoning our own innate capacities, our owncuriosities and artistic potential. We cash in our inheritance of

conscious participation in the action of art for too little payoff inconvenience and comfort.

This book seeks to redress this imbalance by putting the verbs of

art back in your hands for intentional, effective use in the rich

media of your everyday life. The following pages focus not on"works of art;' but rather on "the work of art." The phrase maysound awkward at first, perhaps too taxing with its emphasis

on labor. But in practice, you will see that it is neither heavy norlaborious-the work of art you will find in these pages is familiar,

engaging, and fun. In other words, the work of art is serious play.

Art is not apart. It is a continuum within which all participate; weall function in art, use the skills of art, and engage in the action of

artists every day. Underneath the surface distinctions that makeindividual lives seem very different, art is a common groundwe share; the work of art is a way we all do things when we are

working well.Our unheralded everyday actions of art comprise oneend of the human spectrum of artistry; the other end is the creation

of masterpieces in the arts that we readily label as art: newlyweds

setting the table for their first Thanksgiving dinner on one extreme,and da Vinci's painting The Last Supper on the other; a business-

woman shifting the sequence of the slides in her presentationon one extreme, Sam Shepard transposing the order of the scenes

during rehearsals of True West on the other. The differences are

Trade Secrets

obvious, easyto identify and laugh about; the similarities (which are

the focus of this book) may be less evident, but they construct the

waywe experience being alive.If we can acknowledge and honor the

art we perform, if we can stay aware of and develop the skills of artwe use daily, if we can borrow appropriate and useful trade secrets

from artists, who are the experts and exemplars of this field, we candramatically enrich the quality of daily life.

The main artistic media (music, theater, dance, visual and

literary arts) have survived because we thrill to witness what

humans can accomplish, what the body can express, what the

human voice can do at its best-what subtle truths people cancommunicate. Masterworks in art invite and reward our best

attention; they also enable us to extend the range of our own over-

looked artistic competencies. Apprehending the magnificence of the

soprano's aria increases our proficiency to hear the wide range oforganized sound we encounter throughout our lives. Perceiving

Cezanne's accomplishments in a painting of an ordinary houseamong trees can radically alter what you see on your daily drive to

work. Responding to Shakespeare's King Henry the Fifth as hewanders all night, reflecting before the big battle, develops a wiser

you to confront your next crisis.

But those occasional celebrated masterpieces are merely the tip ofthe artistic iceberg to which all of us, including many fine-but-not-

famous artists, contribute less visibly and far more frequently.

When we assume that the work of art exists only in these isolated

peaks, we shrug off our birthright. Human bodies do wonderfulthings all the time, not just when the dance company Pilobolus

performs, not just for a few days every four years at an Olympics.

We all have human voices, and even though they are less developedthan the diva's, they are rich in sonic subtlety that we ply in many

ways. We live in an abundant playhouse of sound that rewards thebest hearing we can apply. We need to attend to the artistic

4 5

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f Art Is a VerbTrade Secrets

experiences throughout our lives, not just at tickets-only events. In

doing so, we reclaim many dwindling passions; we awake dormant

skills with which to construct good answers to life's hardestquestions.

We all have a natural knowledge of the processes and perspectivesthat artists use, even if we have not focused our efforts on

developing these skills the way artists have. Yes,maybe you sing likea squawking crow, and you might think contrapposto is an Italianside dish; but you certainly have expertise about what sounds and

tastes and feels good. You may not be trained for center stageleaping, but you have made many beautiful things with that body of

yours, like dives into the deep end and waltzes on the dancefloor or

charades clues and wedding choreography. You have entertained

others by performing clever impersonations. You've played red

light/green light. You'vemade love.

You are also, I'm sure, intimately aware of choreography in the

world: on the street, on the playing field. You get annoyed when

someone bungles their role on the dancefloor of the sidewalk by

crossing in front of you, or reception hall by stealing your spotlight,or on the gridiron by missing a block on a tailback sweep.

You appreciate the balletic steps of the furniture movers as they

maneuver your dining room set or of your spouse choppingvegetables in the kitchen. You said of the Japanese chef's prep-

aration of teriyaki at your table, and of the carpenter's work on yourcabinets: "It was a work of art."

Even those famous artists want you as a creative peer. Here is

a secret truth they might not tell you-they really seek colleagues,and settle for admirers. Alvin Ailey and George Balanchine wouldrather have had the choreographically-competent you than the

venerating-follower you pay to sit in row G.

You have all the necessary background. To engage fully in the

work of art, all you really need are the skills you already have, the

6

birthright you were given,and the perspectivesand practicesthisbookwillremind you about.

For the messageof this book to make a difference,you need toembracetwo ideas:

1) Youdo the same kinds of work Beethovendid. Youmay notbelievethis until later in thesepages,but it's true. Thewayyou putthings together-solve a problem at the office,tell a story, makesenseout of a mess,let your spouseor childknowyour love-maynot be as densely articulated as the Third Symphony or beperformedby a medium as expressiveas a seventy-pieceorchestra,but they are successfulaccomplishments;they are filled with thework of art; and theyare worthyof investigation.

2) Youneed to set things apart from the commonplaceto attendto them in a specialway.The specialplaceneed not be literalizedasa museum or performance hall. It is a kind of experience-anattitude-created insideyou; and the habit of setting asidesuch aplaceand makingeffectiveuse of it is developedthrough the workof art.

This book builds upon those two ideas,and their implicationswillfillthesepages.However,letme cementanothercriticaltruth inplaceat the beginning,though wewill revisit it only occassionally.Justbecausewedo some of the samework as Beethoven,it doesn'tmean our results are the same. The accomplishmentsof masterartistsarestupendous,the resultof fearsomediligence,vision,hard-earned skill, profound understanding of their discipline,and anextradash of somethingwemight callgenius.Theyengagein manyof the sameactions,plythe sameuniversalskillsof art as the restofus,but theyput them togetherin superb,inspiringways.The restofus can do a little of what RudolfNureyevcould do in abundance;the rest of us do not focus our talentswith the undestandingof aMatisse.In claimingour rightfulpartnershipwith such masters,weneither dimish their achievements,nor set unrealisticexpectations

7

f Art Is d Verb

for our own efforts.We can learn from what they know; we canrefocus the waywe see and work;we can transform the qualityofour dailyliving.

TrddeSecrets

How I Came to This World View

designs challenges related to a particular artwork under study.

The students' work on the problem pays off when they attend

a culminating performance. The activities involve real artisticproblems the artist solved in the piece under study (e.g., somethingBeethoven was working on in the Third Symphony). When those

students attend the concert, they are peers, interested in seeing how

Beethoven solved the problem they also solved. In this process,

people develop their own perceiving skills, enabling them to stepinto works of art by themselves. They discover how their owncreative work connects to that of the masters. (I know the process

sounds a little vague-if we practitioners had a simpler way of

describing why it works so well, it would be a household term bynow.)

Much of the innovative work I have done in this powerful

practice has been at the Nashville Institute for the Arts (NIA), where

I was given carte semi-blanche to experiment and expand my work-shop practice over many years of visiting Music City. Particularly

valuable for me was a three-year think-tank at the NIA with aselected group of fine thinker-artists from New York and Nashville

(we called the group Bob because we couldn't think up a proper

name for it). Bob explored the implications of aesthetic education

as it met big issues such as learning and understanding, the way themind works, and the sources of art.

The insights I gained from working with Bob could haveprovided good fodder for theoretical writings about the arts for

colleagues in the field of education, but something unexpectedhappened. Instead of conceptual and abstract ideas, I found that my

curiosity carried me into constant experiments in the testing

grounds of the real world. I carried the investigation of the

processes of art beyond my work in theater and teaching and began

studying the everyday aesthetics in my marriage, in my friendships,and in the way I did chores and constructed a daily life.

Let me recount the unexpected journey through which I found

my way to the worldview of this book. My reasonable plans for life

met a Mack truck in college when I was cast in a play. It was DylanThomas's Under Milkwood, and the rehearsal and performance

experience was so ecstatic and challenging, made me feel so alive

in new ways, that I knew I had to have more. I pursued theaterthrough graduate school and right into a successful twenty-yearprofessional career.

Mine was not a rich-and-famous career (though I did fantasize

about my Academy Award acceptance speech), but it was satisfyingto play many of the great roles in Shakespeare, as well as many

modern characters. I acted in a number of shows on Broadway

and toured for a year in a one-man play. I enjoyed many briefappearances on television and even produced and directed plays. Ialso taught theater arts on the side, and, stealthily, my passion for

teaching slowly wangled its way to my life's center stage.

By now, I have taught at every level, from pre-kindergarten to

graduate school to professional actors' training to continuingeducation for senior citizens. I have taught everything in the theater

from acting, to how to make hideously realistic scars to how to stage

a good broadsword fight to how anyone can love a good play; and Ihave taught many subjects outside of the theater too. In the late

1970s, I discovered a program called aesthetic education at LincolnCenter Institute (with which I am still affiliated).

Aesthetic education is a practice that uses teaching-artists to

engage pe,ople of any age inside works of art. The teaching-artist

8 9

~ Art Is a Verb

The biggest breakthroughs came in the least "artistic" realm: my

business.1 had started a smallbusinessin NewYorkthat gatheredresearch on Americans' lifestyles and consumer behavior-wehandledovera thousandstudiesdone byvariousorganizationseachyear, each with hundreds of pagesof statisticaldata. We analyzed,synthesized,and humanizedthosetomesinto quick-readingarticlesof highlights, which we then made availablein newslettersforbusiness people and anyone elsewho needed to know the latestobjectively-measured trends among Americans. The businessbecame very successful.(I sold Research Alert and the othernewslettersto NewYork'sEPMCommunicationsin 1992,and theystill thrive.)

At the office,my imaginativetheater background ran head-oninto the practicalwallsof running abusiness.Loftyartisticconceptsand the deluxewordsthat oftengowiththem didn't count formuchin the dailybustleof the bottom line.Trytellingan angrycustomerthat he is relying on hackneyed images in his dialogue; trysuggestingthat the overpricedsupplier adjust her super-objective.The pragmaticsof mybusinesshad no connectionto the aestheticsof my previousartisticlife-or so 1thought at first.

Eventually,I began to notice that when I was working on myfavorite tasks at the office-like devising a marketing plan, oranalyzingthe resultsof a study-the actualexperiencesfelta lot likemy favoriteworkin the arts. Hamletit wasn't,but to tell the truth,

many parts of the processand payoffwere indistinguishablefromwhen 1had actedthe roleof Hamletand directedthe play.Mymindand energy were fully engaged;1 was creativelychallengedandabsorbed; 1 was enjoying myself; 1 felt fully satisfied. I didn'tknow what to call these art-likeexperiencesthat had no "artistic"connection and began to question my previous definitions andbeliefsabout art.

r

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I

Trade Secrets

1was hesitant to mention this heretical fascination to my artist-

friends; had 1 "sold out"? Did 1 dare to liken my excitement in

discovering the statistical patterns of future vacation travel innational forests with the joy my theater colleagues and 1 felt in

staging a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream? 1 pursued

my unorthodox interests anyway-experimenting, testing, and

gingerly sharing my thoughts. My diffidence proved to beunwarranted, I'm relieved to report; artists have been enthusiastic

colleagues in the observations and experiences that have formed thebasis of this book.

The Inner-City Child

It~

1currentlyteach about art and educationat The JuilliardSchoolin NewYorkwheremanyof the world'sfinestmusiciansaretrained.My first lesson for a new group of students often consists of asimplerequest:Giveme one goodreasonthat an inner-citykid justa few blocks from Juilliard should give a damn about classicalmusic.The students immediatelyoffera rangeof plausiblereasonsthey haveheard in their yearsof dedicationto makingmusic:it isbeautiful,it is so wellmade, it is its own language.Butevenas theyutter their instinctiveresponses,they quicklyrealizethat none oftheir justificationswould flywith a kidwho grewup in the projectswithout their sophisticatedbackground.Theycan't think of a singlecompellingreasonwhyeverypersonshouldcareaboutfinemusicalart. Then we can begin our year with a clean slate upon which tocarvenewanswers.

Juilliardstudents are not alone. I havemet fewpeople,evenfewarts professionals,who can convincinglymakea casefor the actualimportance, for any real usefulness,of the arts. I struggletoo. I'vehad many occasionsto addressdifferentkinds of groupsabout theimportance of the arts. Somegroups alreadyshare a commitment

~ Art Is a Verb

to the arts (these choirs are delightful to preach to), and some are

full of skeptics (they provide a litmus test for my verbal BS). It is

terribly hard, sometimes frustrating, to convince a dubious audi-

ence. Through my years of Research Alert, I know the nail-gun

power of a perfect statistic. How often I have wished to tell

audiences that "one hour of arts experience raises your IQ 6.9

points," or "a good regional theater reduces a city's violent crime by

11 percent:' or "ballet lessons in prison cuts criminal recidivism inhalf." Won't someone please prove that watercolor painting curesarthritis?

The American choreographer Agnes De Mille said, "We are a

pioneer country. If you can't mend a roof with it, if you can't patch

a boot with it, if you can't manure your field with it or physic your

child with it, it's no damn good." Does art mend a roof or physica child?

Can the word "art" mean something important in America? Myanswer is that it has to; further, I have come to see that it does,

although not in conventionally understood ways.

There are, in fact, bits and pieces of statistical evidence that shore

up the case for the arts. According to scientific research, hearing

complex music stimulates your spatial intelligence; making music

increases synaptic development in the very young. A school

curriculum that dedicates at least 25 percent of its time to the arts

produces academically superior students, and using the arts in

history classes increases students' retention of facts. It has been

proven that good high school arts programs reduce dropout rates

and absenteeism. But as encouraging as these slivers of certainty

may be (and there are many more), we will never have a perfect

"objective" pitch for the primacy of the arts, no slam-dunk case that

will score over skeptics' objections. I believewe must look elsewhereto find the roof-mending, boot-fixing, child-healing relevance of artfor that inner-city kid.

Trade Secrets

In my years of lecturing and leading educational workshops, I

have come to believe that the answer lies in the doing of "the work

of art." When I speak to a group about the importance of the arts,particularly a business group, I am almost always asked what I've

come to think of as the question:"How are the arts really useful?"

The inevitability of the question became disconcerting. The pattern:

I would address the issue with my best stuff in the presentation; andthen, there would be a raised hand next to a face that bore the

unmistakable look from which the question blurts. The question is

as blunt as Audrey II, the carnivorous plant in Little Shop of Horrors,

who demandsthat we,"Cut out the crap and bring on the meat.=-Never once have I been asked the questionduring or after a

substantialworkshopin whichparticipantshavehad the chancetoengagein theworkofart.Thereissomethingaboutthedoingofthearts that communicates their importance, that incontrovertiblyanswersthequestion.When peopledig into the work of art, theynolongerhaveto askabout its valuebecausetheyknow.

12

Art over the TelephoneDo you recallthe children'sgame"Telephone"?One playerstarts

with a secret statement and whispers it in a neighbor's ear. Theneighbor in turn whispersit to the person next to her, and so ondown a line of communicators.At the end of the line, the lastperson announces the statement as she heard it, and everyonecomparesit with the thought at the start. Low-techas it is, childrenstill play "Telephone"because it is amazing to see how well-intended communicatorscan insanelygarblea simplethought.

The view of art we now hold in Americais the sad result of a

modern era telephonegame.Webegan this centurywith inheritedviewsabout the purpose and practicesof art, viewsalreadyfar fromthose that had prevailedfor the previous thousands of years.Andhere at the end of the line of this century,the averagecitizenholds

13

f Art Is a VerbTrade Secret

.is a "treat" for the rich and sophisticated, but not meant

for regular people, except in watered-down versionsthat elicit condescension from "those who know

about art";

If you believe that misguided set of beliefs captures art, then YOt

would believe that the human relationship to animals is completel~described by the rules of polo.

I am not enough of a scholar to trace the bizarre generation-to.

generation whispering route that our Western understandings of ar

have taken to bring us to our current muddle. In Paleolithic times

art was a life-essential, right up there with food, water, shelter, sleepsex, and worship. Art activated and celebrated the important bu'

invisible aspects of life that still hold people together. Art assume,

full participation as a social norm and was so infused into dail)

living there was no special grunt or word to name it. The practice~

of art taught humans how to live in society and how society car

function at its best. For thousands of years, even if she was not omwho painted the cave wall, even if he was not a performer in tht

medieval pageant wagon play, he gave his heart to engage, she gavt

her mind to extend, through art.

I sense that our confusion about art began around the time 01

ancient Greek civilization when "philosopher" was becoming 2

shingle you could hang outside your house. Conflicting views aboul

art's place in life began to appear: Plato banned poetry from hh

utopia because it was too dangerous, while Aristotle wrote in

Poetics,"greater than all things is to be a master of metaphor." W€

have been arguing about art ever since and still haven't even set a

good definition.

In daily life,however,the experience of art remained strong, activ€

and important for average people. Artists were not seen as existing

apart from the rest of society.Art was connected to mysteries andspiritual impulses, as natural a part of social cohesion as the parentaJ

impulse.

This durable active engagement in art in the West carried into theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and then things began to

peculiar definitions and understandings of art that just don'tmake much sense. Perhaps the declaration from the end of thewhisperingline isAndyWarhol'sdefinitionof art as"anythingyoucan get awaywith."

Well, the telephone game ends here.

Let's take a closer look at the currently accepted American viewof the arts. We believe that serious art is attractive and marvelous.

We say it is for everyone, but in practice, it is peripheral to most,irrelevant to many, and threatening to some. The average citizenthinks that art:

.is about precious objects likeVan Gogh paintings thatsell for millions of dollars, or about expensive perfor-

mances by masters in performance halls;

.requires specialized skills, extensive training, andeducated responses that usually include big words;

.has a separate category called "modern" art, comprised

largelyof incomprehensible and unpleasant pieces;

.is about government funding, sometimes for people to

photograph sadomasochistic acts and to pour urine oncrucifixes;

·has glitz and romance attached to it, is nice, but not

reallyimportant.

14 15

~Art Is a Verb Trade Secrets

change. I will not propose a particular theory to explain this change;

there was much going on, and I wasn't there. But by the time we

tripped into the twentieth century, the average Western citizenno longer saw art as his or her birthright. Art was not viewed as a

critical tool for connecting to the most important things in life, nor

as a means to teach and develop understandings about how a societyshould be and how we should be in society.Art became institution-

alized, museum-ized, and separated from daily life; it required

experts. Art objects became commodified as a currency, and many

art events became too expensive for all but the privileged. Art

ecame what was done by a special talented few. Many romantic

notions became attached to the arts: artists became special, hyper-

emotional and heroic, not altogether reliable, and a little oversexed;

self-expression emerged as an artistic end in itself.Art became fused

with a particular, educated, abstracted way of looking at things.

It is true that artists are often very talented, and their accomplish-

ments often magnificent.But artists are not apart. Brilliant soliloquies

and sparkling trumpet riffs don't magicallyspring from some God-

given talent or visitations by evanescentmuses in diaphanous gowns.

'S Artists create masterpieces the waywe all accomplish things in life,byputting small component pieces together in complex, satisfyingways.

In this book, we will explore the basic skillsthey use and the practices

they develop.These are not things like the ability to recite iambic pen-tameter whileyou executethe choreographed moves of a fencingduel,

or knowing how to load oilpaint on a pig-bristlebrush. They are skills

like asking good questions, solving interesting problems in innovative

ways,making stories, using intuition, not-knowing things for a while,

payingattention,and makinggoodchoices. .

Even though our views of art have changed and our equipmentfor art has diversified over the millennia, we still haven't improved

on those original tools (call them technologies) that ancient cavepainters.knew about: metaphor, improvisation, following impulses,

making things that hold personal meaning, exploring the worth-

while things others have made, creating rituals in a special place.Once you scrape off the romance and irrelevant crud of common

misconceptions about what artists actually do, you see the actualactions of art.

Think about it: Why do many of the smartest, most talented,most demanding people work like maniacs in fields that won't make

them wealthy or secure? What is it about the arts that draws and

satisfies so many of the best and brightest people who could behigh-achievers in more lucrative professions? What is it about art

that has kept it near the top of the human priority list for the last

20,000 years, until its slippage in recent generations?

Artists are not foolish; they are not old-fashioned; they're ontosomething.

Through practice, artists learn trade secrets. They pay attention

to these basics as if their lives depended on them, because they do.

These secrets are so powerful that they transform everyday,ordinary experience into a wealth more valuable than bankable

currencies. Artists make masterful use of the perspectives and skillswe all naturally apply in unnoticed moments throughout our lives.

These secrets have been rediscovered and passed along, hand-to-

hand not through whispering, for thousands of years; and they are

responsible for much of the good humankind has managed, andmost of the joy.

What Goeson in Worksof ArtLet me give you a pop quiz about the work of art, using a frivo-

lous example. I am going to suggest an ordinary situation we all

encounter. Play it through in your imagination. Then see how manymoments you can identify in the scene that you would classify aspart of the work of art. Here's the insipid plot:

16 17

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Art Is a Verb

The scene is a restaurant. You are greeted, ushered to your table.

Yousit with your friend.Youorder your meal,and you eat it. It isdelicious.Youpay the bill.Youget up and leave.

t's it.

Playthat scenethrough in your imagination,and see if you canpick moments that involvethe work of art-that is, activity thatengagesthe samekind of workthat artists undertakewhenmakingtheir art. Try to stay realistic.In other words, don't jump up and

grab the violinfrom the strollingmusicianand play"Flightof TheBumbleBee";keepyour hands fromsculptingthe mashedpotatoeslikeRichardDreyfusin CloseEncounters.Begin,and read on whenyou are done.

Howmanywork-of-artmomentsdidyou find?None?Afew?Toomany to count?

If you found none, you hold a lofty definition of art and highstandards for its label.If you found a few,you are flexiblein yourthinking and willingto credit smallactionswith largermeaning.If

,youfound too manyto count,you and I sharea point of view.

Let me talk you through the way I imaginethe restaurantvisit.Every action in it is oneI would describe aspertinent to the work of art.

a) You follow the hostess through the dining area, attendingto whatever you happen to notice as you pass: an interestingpainting of an ocean,the colorof the carpetand walls,the lighting;you hear music, somethingclassicalwith strings;you smell somecurry-like;dish and try to identifyit; you note a particularlyattrac-tive young diner, see someonewho looks likesomeoneyou know;you watch for possibleproblems like noisy groups, crowdedness;you passa grumpyinfant.Youfocus in on your table,evaluatingitbased on pasthistoryand this evening'sexpectations.Tothis point,you have noticedthings that were attractive,surprising,or of

I

Trade Secrets

concern.Youprobably made mental notes of things that were insomewaybeautifulor the opposite.

b) Quick-cutto orderingfrom the menu. Theprinted wordsandnumbers invite your sensory imagination to play.You scan themenu and your memory,consulthowyou feel,and checkthe prices.Yourtask maybe complicatedby the power of a liveperformancefrom the server with a "tonight's specials"recitation, enhancedwith little embellishmentsof voice,face,detail,and professionalrecommendation.Now,with a senseof the pertinent landscape,youengagein the work of choicemore strategically.

Youmay have a particular notion you brought with you thatguidesthis evening'sprocessof choice:you havealwayswanted totry the osso buco this restaurant is famous for; you planned toreprisean experiencefrom last time;you only recognizeone thingon the menu; you consider digestiveor health repercussions.Youtake your time, as long as it takesfor the decisionto emerge.Youmay have organizedthe choosingprocessto the point whereyouneed a few last bits of specificinformation from the server,therepresentativeof the hidden expertsin the kitchen.Youstate yourselection, and the server makes a notation, offering a subtleacknowledgmentof your accomplishmentwith a raisedeyebrow.

Your mouth may water, your stomach may rumble, theanticipationof the pleasuremay begin; you havebegun the mealexperience.In review,whatyouhavedoneistakethe informationyouhavebeengivenin manymedia(words,numbers,feelings,intuitions,past experienceof manykinds,bodyawareness)and participatedinan imaginativeimprovisationbasedon the data.Thepurposeof thework is to solvethe problemof what to choose.Youinventedyourown strategy,juggled the complexmulti-media data with grace,pleasureandsomesophistication,andarrivedatagoodsolution.Andfinally,you establishedexpectationsof the outcomebasedon manyvariables,includingthe dollargauge(youexpecta bettersaladfor $9

~ Art Is a Verb

than for $2).Youhave transformed the menu into the meal. So doesthe chef.

c) Cut to the action in the kitchen. Each dish is constructed from

a limited list of ingredients-some simple, some complex. Thisavailable palette of ingredients could provide an infinite number of

different-tasting combinations. The possibilities need to be

narrowed and shaped in brilliant specific ways to create a dish thatconnects to your imagined dish; the performance must deliver, and

exceed, the promise of the playbill-menu.

The problems involved are multi-dimensional. While they center

around issues of taste, with the hundreds of subtle challenges

involved in that medium, the kitchen team's assignments spread farwider. They have to attend to your plate's presentation and smell,

timing and quantity. They must calculate and plan on a moment-to-moment basis, as well as on a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour,

day-to-day, and every other kind of timetable. There are issues of

supply and demand, personnel and personality and politics, healthand safety, and many considerations about beauty. There are also

the insoluble mysteries of three unexpected 8:30 parties of eight anda sudden avoidance of chocolate souffle.

Through its many processes and people, choices, and attitudes-whatever the action in the studio-world behind the closed door-

your dish arrives. The server presents your selection. You begin tomeet it as you follow its trajectory from the server's hand down

toward the open center stage outlined by silverware in front of you.The curtain rises, and you take it in with multisensory attention and

assessment. Again, you compare your expectations and past expe-rience to this particular creation.

Without being aware of it, you begin a strategy for how to solve

this next se9uence of delightful problems as you reach for the fork

to begin with the glazed garnet yams on the right side, as opposed

20

TradeSecret

to the lamb chop on the left. Youenter a new kind of participatioIin the evening's improvisation.

d) Cut to standing up to leave the restaurant. It was a terrifi.

meal; it encouraged great conversation; you feel satisfied. YOt

navigate your way out of the now-familiar place, no longer needin~a guide.

Again, you enjoy the framed seascape you noticed on the wa)in, connecting it with the many fish offerings you saw on the menu

the curry-like dish wasn't curry at all, it was the gumbo you sa",

served at a neighboring table; the cranky baby has gone to sleepthat beautiful young stranger is long gone. Each observation mark1

a change. Things now make a different kind of sense, enriched b}this second, connected noticing.

You see the restaurant's wave-like logo painted on the entf}window and note that it fits with the music (Handel's Water Musicyou discovered from the waiter), the menu, the "whole feel" of th€

place. Youlook to the awning over the entry, and there's somethingyou hadn't noticed before: the color is the same as the color of the

border on the plates and the wainscoting on the wall.Youthink about

the impact of that odd linkage-awning with walls and plates-youwonder if you have done something similar in your own home. You

notice the color coordination between the scarf and purse of a ladywho walksby you. Youreplaya joke from dinner, making a pun aboutthe lady's silk purse.

You turn to say good-bye to your dinner companion. You easilypull together a few words that sum up your experience of the

evening. And just before you part, you say"Let's do this again soon,but let's try the new Thai place next time; I have heard the chef isvery inventive and works marvels with vegetarian dishes."

That sequence sounds pretty reasonable, doesn't it? We focused in

with exaggerated detail, but all the pieces of experience feel familiar and"real:'

21

t Art Is a Verb

Every action, every moment, every step described above is filledwith the work of art-the same tasks, skills, perspectives, energies,

and actions that artists use when creating their work. Youmay have

your doubts: "Eating at The Four Seasons is not art, and imaginingthat it is will not be something that changes my life."However, I'm

convinced that the attending, responding, and choosing you do atThe FourSeasonsor RedLobsteris very much relatedto art. I know

that gaining intentional command of the skills you use in thesepracticescan greatlyenhancethe qualityof your everydaylife.

Trade Secrets

The Basic Actions of Art

2) Exploring the Things Others Have Made

Attending to things-perceiving them well-is a natural out-growth of making them. We'reused to payingattention to masterartworks,but there are many more things in this world that meritand reward our fullest exploration. The same skills we use inperceivingmaster artworks can be directed toward decodingandmakingdeeperconnectionswith the manymeaningfulobjectsandopportunities that fill our lives.This kind of noticing is a skill todeepenfor a lifetime.

In the humblingprocessof makingthingswith meaning,wehaveinsightsthat deepenour studyof otherpeople'swork.Welearnthat:many choices,of many kinds,are made alongthe way;eachpart isplaced where and how it is for a reason; one's first impressionsmight be second rate; that liking or dislikingis one of the leastuseful responseswe can have;the surfaceis only part of the story,and not the best part.

The mediain whichwecan engagein the workof art are infinite,as are the number of creationsthat mightresult.However,amidthis

plenitude of options and variations,I propose there are just threebasic actions in the work of art.

1) Making Things with Meaning

Referring back to the original meaning of art ("to put things

together"), this is the most obvious of the three parts of the work ofart. I include the words "with meaning" to differentiate this kind

of construction from assembly-line manufacturing, or fretfully

snapping together the "Barbie bus" late on Christmas Eve,or hooking

fifty identical crocheted pot holders.

Making things isa peculiarlypowerful act. Rather than the "things"

you make, it is the making itself, the experience, that is the real pay-off. Artistic disciplines provide particularly potent ways in which to

make things, but they don't own the patent on these powerfulexperiences. We can, and do, make things with meaning in anymedium. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary results

does not reside entirely in the medium you work with, rather, it also

lies in the qualities of the process.

22

3) EncounteringDaily Life with the Work-of-Art Attitude

The skillsthat result from a practiceof makingcomplexthingsand from perceivingthose made by others fostersan attitude thatartists know about. This attitude carriesbeyond the studio or theobject itself; it makes connections among the various kinds ofexperienceswehavein life.Artistsmakesenseof their livesthrough

th~_~ious interpl~y'of life and work, by ~ski~g,at!ending, andmaking_c~ime~tiQ!1s.This work appears throughout our lives,too,as we find a moment comic,as wenotice the natural choreographycaptured by prints in the day-old snow. This attitude weavesafabric from the many chaotic threads of modern life.It might becalleda curiouswayof seeing,or lifelonglearning,perhapsfull-tiltparticipation,or lifejazz.

Thesethree endeavors-making thingswith meaning,exploringthings others havemade well,and encounteringdailylifewith the

23

~ Art Is d Verb

work-of-art attitude-comprise the triangle of actions that artists

use to find their deepest satisfaction. These three angles of approach

provided the unconventional artistic fulfillment I experienced in

my business. I have found that doing the work of art, even just a

little, reminds people of the following truths they somehow alreadyknow deep inside:

Weareshapedbywhatweextendourselvesinto; ourattendingandourparticipation inform our lives.Wemustbeverycarefulwith theobjectsandactionswepresentto ourselvesandtoour childrenbecausewearechangedbythem.Theworkofart lendsshapetopassionandtoyearning.Worksof art are the bestcontainersfor yearningbecausetheyaresorich, sohuman,sosatisfyingon somanylevels.Art-work

givesseriousoutershapetoseriou.s.Jnneryea!ning.If ouryearningsareinformedbylessrichobjects,theywill gotosleep,will die,or will even-tually distort themselvesin theharmful expressionsthatfill thepagesof thedaily newspaper.

All of us, even those who would derisively snort if you called

them artists, engage in the actions of art. We do it naturally, we do

it beautifully-without a hint that we have done anything that has

to do with art. We commonly call it "doing our best" or "getting lost

in our work." It might also be described as absorption in a process,as "flow;' as being "in the zone." Call it what you like-it is made of

the same work as the work of art. As the painter J.M.Whistler put it

in Ten O'Clock,"Art happens-no hovel is safe from it; no prince

may depend upon it; the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about."

Your positive future lies in your "work of art": your skills, habitsand practices, the way you choose to look at and engage with theobjects and activities that fill your life. .

Trade Secrets

inner abilities that lead to the overt physical expressions of art. In

Part Three, we will investigate those three actions of art justdescribed, especially as they apply in non- "artistic" media. And in

Part Four, we will get practical with some final suggestions about

ways to bring the work of art into every part of living.

What LiesAhead

In Part Two,we will explore the basic skills of art. These are notthe physic'altalents we think of as artistic skill; rather, these are the

"Eric Booth reminds us in The Everyday Work of Art that living to the

fullest is a work of art done on an expense budget of inquiry, questioning

and curiosity An exciting piece of work for those of us whose lives are

given such meaning by living with art."

-Marianna Houston Weber, Education Director,

Theatre Development Fund

~

rthe everyday

vverk of~ art I"Eric Booth presents a fresh philosophy for looking at and engaging in the

world around us. His book illustrates the power of the arts and presents us

with clear strategies for tapping more fully into the artists within each of us:'

-Derek E. Gordon, Vice President, Education, The Kennedy Center

"Filledwith illuminatinginsightsand warm anecdotes,TheEverydayWork

of Art is an inspiring work offering a stirring argument for the importance

of art. TheEverydayWorkof Art is an impressivecontribution to thenational dialogue on the essentialness of art in American culture, schools,and communities:'

r,.~:.

"

\.

-The Midwest BookReview 1

"-,

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"Eric Booth's book explores how artists encounter daily life in a unique

way, and how the habits and routines artists develop in order to create, can

help all of us find new approaches to our problems and the solutions:'

-Thomas Cahill, Executive Director, The Studio in a School Association~,~.tt

transform yourexperience can

hovv artistic

life

.~.,..

eric

,

..Sourcebooks. Inc.

Naperville,IL

'''TWo Tramps in Mud Time" from The Poetry of Robert Frost. edited by EdwardConnery Lathem. Copyright Q 1936 by Robert Frost. Copyright Q 1969 by Henry Holt &Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt & Co.. Inc.

"The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower" from The Poems of Dylan

Thomas by Dylan Thomas. Copyright Ci 1939 by New Directions Publishing Corp.Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

"The Well Dressed Man with a Beard" from Collected Poems by Wallace Stevens.

Copyright Ci 1942 by Wallace Stevens. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Copyright Q 1997 by Eric Booth

Cover Copyright Ci 1997 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cover Design by Scott Theisen, Sourcebooks, Inc.L

~.

,).

This book is dedicated to my father, who created manyfine things in the medium of business-though he would

have scoffed if I had called him an artist. We felt the

closest in the music at the symphony.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any elec-tronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval

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Published by Sourcebooks, Inc., P.O. Box 372, Naperville, Illinois 60566

(630) 961-3900 FAX: (630) 961-2168

Library of CongressCataioging-in-Publication DataBooth,Eric. '

The everyday work of art: how artistic experience can transform your life I Eric Booth.p.cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-570'71-192-5

1. Art-Psychology. 2. Visual perception. J. Title.N71.B66 1997

70I'.I5-<lc21 97-22796CIP

Printed and bound in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I

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